Applications

Growth drivers for digital advertising

Published

14 years ago

March 20, 2012

MUMBAI: Digital advertising is dwarfed in India by print and broadcasting, contributing a tiny amount of Rs 15 billion compared to the total pie of Rs 300 billion.

The good news, however, is that there is a huge growth potential as it now just makes up one-fourth of television penetration in India. Some even predict that this will become a billion dollar industry in three years. Though the forecast may spell doubts from many quarters, it is sure that the climb is going to be rapid in a country that boasts of a large youth population.

India already has 120 million Internet users and 50 million mobile Internet users, making it the third largest market from the users’ point of view.

With the increase in the number of mobile and Internet users, digital is the space for the future. A lot has been said about how digital will make the world smaller and bring people closer. More buzz is now being created around the prospects of monetising one‘s presence in the digital space.

Google, the world‘s largest search engine company, is bullish on the Indian market. Says Google India VP and MD Rajan Anandan, “There are 50 million mobile Internet users in India and by 2012-end there will be more mobile Internet users than laptop and desktop Internet users together. Also, in 3-4 years there will be more Indian businesses advertising through the online media. In three years from now, this will be a billion dollar industry.”

For Anandan, 2012 should be the year of online video. “The web today has become utilitarian. It is being used to search for products and services and also buying them. This has marketing implications,” he says.

Web-based advertising is emerging in India. There are also many forms of mobile advertising and with the adoption of smartphones, this should grow further.

A large amount of digital consumption in India will happen on mobile. Says KPMG India director-strategy ransaction services Varun Gupta, “Advertisers are looking at print and then adapting to digital. Print and TV comprise around 80 per cent of ad budget, where print is larger than TV. Readership is a comfort zone and, thus, print is still having the largest ad spend.”

The digital share of media always starts with performance and India is at an early stage. “A large base of performance-based advertising from print is already going online like job listings and real estate,” Anandan avers.

The reason why the shift to digital is taking time is because Indian web is in English while print is regional and a chunk of population is still more comfortable conversing in their regional languages. “2012 will mark the take-off of regional/ local web. On web we have empowered users to watch the ads that are relevant for them. It may or may not affect revenue. The trick is how to generate content for online ad,” Anandan adds.

The real strength of the Internet has surfaced after the social media revolution. Traditional media in India is feeling the early tremors of disruption from technology and social media tools.

Says MSL Group CEO Olivier Fleurot, “There is a need is to engage with the users. Credibility of online medium is growing faster and social media is helping.”

GroupM South Asia CEO Vikram Sakhuja feels technology is underestimated in the long run and over-estimated
in the short term. “With digital media one has the ability to move census as it gives opportunities for measuring. Also, digital has power of interactivity. Today it’s a two–way communication that is profound. Digital has the ability to move across different devices and different media and there is real time query and real time consumption of content. Currently digital gets only the 3 per cent of the overall advertising and these advantages will help it grow over the next few years.”

The syntax of content is going to be different. User Generated Content (UGC) will change the way marketers work. This will result in the role of 30 seconds commercial coming down.

“Digital is allowing scaled word-of-mouth. There will be new distribution and sales channels. Rather than being linear, marketers should find out different ways to reach their customers,” Sakuja says.

Even in cinema, digital advertising will catch on. Says UFO Moviez joint MD Kapil Agarwal, “Analogue cinema advertising was dying a natural death. But with the emergence of digital advertising, today all theatres are connected. We can make the print in digital and the advertisements can be changed every week. There is more flexibility and it can also be interactive.”

Applications

Moltbook, the AI-only social network, sparks hype, doubt and fear

Published

2 weeks ago

February 3, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

CALIFORNIA: Moltbook, a Reddit-style social platform built exclusively for artificial intelligence agents, has emerged as the latest obsession in Silicon Valley, drawing intense attention for its explosive growth and surreal bot-driven interactions.

The platform hosts more than 100 communities where AI agents post, argue and joke about topics ranging from governance theory to esoteric “crayfish debugging” concepts. Within days of launch, Moltbook recorded tens of thousands of posts, nearly 200,000 comments and more than 1 million human visitors observing the activity.

Yet the numbers and the autonomy are under scrutiny, as per media reports. A security researcher has suggested as many as 500,000 accounts may trace back to a single address, raising doubts about Moltbook’s membership claims. Many posts could also be the result of humans instructing their AI tools to publish content, rather than bots acting independently.

The platform runs on agentic AI, powered by an open-source tool called OpenClaw, formerly known as Moltbot. Unlike chatbots such as ChatGPT or Gemini, these agents are designed to perform tasks on users’ devices, from sending messages to managing calendars, with minimal human input. Once authorised, they can interact freely on Moltbook.

Some tech figures have hailed the platform as a glimpse of a post-human internet. Head of crypto custody firm BitGo Bill Lees, called it evidence that “we’re in the singularity”.

Academics are less convinced. Petar Radanliev, an AI and cybersecurity expert at the University of Oxford, said the idea of agents acting independently was “misleading”, describing Moltbook instead as automated coordination within human-set constraints. Columbia Business School assistant professor David Holtz, dismissed the spectacle as “thousands of bots yelling into the void and repeating themselves”.

Beyond hype, security worries loom large. ESET global cybersecurity advisor Jake Moore, warned that granting AI agents access to emails, private messages and files risks prioritising efficiency over privacy. Andrew Rogoyski of the University of Surrey said high-level system access could lead to serious damage, from erased data to compromised company accounts.

Even OpenClaw’s founder Peter Steinberger, has felt the darker side of attention, with scammers hijacking his old social media handles after the platform’s rebrand.

For now, Moltbook remains a strange digital zoo: part experiment, part spectacle, where AI agents banter about philosophy, productivity and, occasionally, their fondness for their human operators.

Applications

Apple appoints Avtar Ram Singh as head of international marketing

Published

2 weeks ago

February 2, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

CALIFORNIA: Apple has handed a bigger global brief to a long-time insider. Avtar Ram Singh has taken over as head of international marketing for the App Store, Apple Arcade and the Apple Games app, deepening his remit across one of the company’s fastest-growing businesses.

“I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as head of international marketing, App Store, Apple Arcade and Games App at Apple,” Singh said while announcing the move.

The promotion crowns nearly seven years at Apple, where Singh has led services marketing across Southeast Asia and India and previously served as head of marketing for Southeast Asia content and services, business lead for Apple Podcasts in the region and interim marketing lead for the App Store internationally.

His new portfolio spans three pillars of Apple’s services push. The App Store, which Apple positions as a safe and trusted discovery platform, now attracts more than 850 million average weekly users globally. Since 2008, developers have earned over $550 billion on the platform.

Apple Arcade, the company’s gaming subscription service, offers unlimited access to a catalogue ranging from brain teasers to big-name franchises. The recent addition of Sid Meier’s Civilization VII Arcade Edition brings a AAA PC title to iPhone, iPad and Mac from 5 February.

Then there is the Apple Games app, unveiled at WWDC as a unified destination for games from the App Store and Arcade. It aggregates titles in one place, surfaces personalised recommendations, tracks events and achievements, and lets users compete with friends or connect controllers for a console-like experience.

Singh arrives with a hybrid background in strategy, data and creativity. His career spans digital and social media marketing, business intelligence, content, editorial and analytics across culturally diverse markets. He has worked on brands including P&G, Accor, Audi, UBS, Nikon, Samsung, Sony, Pizza Hut, HBO and Singapore Airlines-linked businesses such as Scoot.

Before Apple, Singh led strategy at Falcon Agency, focusing on performance marketing and ROI-driven digital frameworks. He earlier ran the social practice at Publicis Singapore, where he oversaw operations, business development and regional social strategy for multinational clients. His career also includes roles at Ogilvy-linked Circus Social, Rocket Internet ventures Lazada and Zalora, and research firm IDC in Bangkok, where he analysed technology markets and won early awards for collaboration and client retention.

At Apple, he has been close to several service launches and expansions, including Apple Fitness+ in Singapore, Apple Creator Studio, global podcast subscriptions and new App Store marketing tools.

The timing is notable. Apple’s services business has posted record years, and gaming is becoming a sharper battleground as platforms chase engagement and recurring revenue. Singh’s brief sits at the intersection of content, community and commerce.

In a market where attention is scarce and loyalty scarcer, Apple is betting that sharper storytelling and smarter marketing can keep users inside its ecosystem. Singh now holds the megaphone. The real test will be how loudly the world listens.

Applications

Cloud nine in the capital Bharathcloud plugs Delhi into its AI plans

Published

2 weeks ago

January 30, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Bharathcloud is bringing its cloud closer to power. The Hyderabad-based sovereign AI cloud services provider has opened its Delhi office, marking its formal entry into North India and setting the stage for its next phase of growth.

The expansion comes as India’s digital transformation fuels rising demand for AI-ready cloud infrastructure, driven by wider adoption of artificial intelligence, machine learning, the Internet of Things and data-heavy applications. With the new office, Bharathcloud plans to onboard more than 100 employees in 2026, strengthening its workforce to support customers across government, enterprises, MSMEs and social sectors.

The Delhi presence is expected to sharpen the company’s engagement with organisations seeking secure, scalable and cost-efficient cloud platforms that comply with India’s data sovereignty requirements. It also positions Bharathcloud closer to policy, public sector and enterprise decision-makers in the region.

Founded in Hyderabad, Bharathcloud offers AI-ready cloud infrastructure including Kubernetes-as-a-Service, zero-trust security architecture and multi-level data protection frameworks. Its platform supports AI and ML workloads, blockchain application migration from hyperscalers and distributed data management, with an emphasis on reliability, low latency and operational continuity.

“With the Delhi expansion, we are positioning Bharathcloud to engage more closely with AI-driven enterprises and technology hubs in North India,” said Bharathcloud co-founder Rahul Takallapally. He added that the move would help nurture local cloud and AI talent while accelerating the adoption of secure and resilient AI infrastructure across sectors.

The company currently operates in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, Lucknow and Chennai, employing over 200 people and serving more than 1,500 clients across manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, IT and media. Aligned with national initiatives such as Digital India and Make in India, Bharathcloud continues to focus on building indigenous AI-cloud infrastructure to support data localisation and the country’s growing appetite for next-generation digital solutions.

With its Delhi office now live, the company is signalling a clear intent: to make sovereign, AI-ready cloud infrastructure not just an alternative, but a mainstream choice for India’s north as well as its tech capitals.